Leading researchers today released a report finding that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose by more than 3.4% in 2018, the first increase since 2006 and the largest rise in 20 years. This news comes both as President Trump continues to rollback greenhouse gas reduction policies for power plants, vehicles and other sectors—and as domestic climate change related impacts, from hurricanes, floods, fires and sea-level rise, cost US consumers and taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
The data clearly show that additional measures will be needed to cut long-term US greenhouse gas emissions, above and beyond overturning Trump's rollbacks of fuel economy rules and regulations on power plants emissions. These additional policies must include some combination of a zero-carbon energy standard for the electricity sector, renewed incentives to electrify the US vehicle sector, funding for clean energy technology breakthroughs, and the reduction of super greenhouse pollutants like methane and HFCs. In time, they will also require a carbon tax.
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